Mycotoxins pose a major concern worldwide since they are harmful to both humans and animals and have a tremendous economic impact with significant implications for food and feed safety, food security, and international trade. They have a destructive effect on crop yield and negatively affect the quantity and quality of agricultural commodities. The EU-funded MycoTWIN project brought together the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK), the National Research Council of Italy and the University of Valencia of Spain. The goal was to strengthen effective and sustainable mycotoxin management for minimising contamination in crops by exchange of knowledge and new pre- and post-harvest measures.
MycoTWIN supported the entire value chain from planning of the cropping system to cultivation of crops, harvest, storage, transport, processing and consuming, all of which can be affected by mycotoxins. MycoTWIN multi-actor partnership approach will integrate the EU Commission food safety policy as well as relevant supranational guidelines (e.g. CODEX).
The project aims to significantly strengthen researches on mycotoxigenic fungi and mycotoxins in TUBITAK by linking it with CNR and UV. MycoTWIN will enhance the scientific and technological capacity of the all three institutions in this specific field with a principal focus on TUBITAK by providing knowledge and experience transfers on mycotoxigenic fungi and mycotoxins between the işnstitutes. The project has been clustered in three operational areas: i) Integrated Information System; ii) Toxigenic Fungi and Mycotoxin Monitoring; iii) Prevention, Intervention and Remediation.
With the scientific activities organized within the scope of MycoTWIN project, more than 1100 representatives/researchers of stakeholders gained experienced on mycotoxigenic fungi and mycotoxins. More than 174 early-stage researchers have been trained in this spesific field of MycoTWIN.
Within the scope of the project, 4 short-term on-site visits, 6 info-days, 3 open-days and seminars, 6 workshops, 8 summer schools, 4 round-table meetings with participation of national and international experts, 1 international conference, 10 national and international technical visits were organized and 6 scientific publications were published.
